Tuesday, January 22, 2013

You're So Vain I Bet You Think...

"Charity
begins at home." But, does it really? This view point does well in a world,
in which we think that everything that happens is about us. But perhaps when we
are strictly focused on our own comfort and well being, our attitudes to larger
issues are filtered. This often becomes a reality particularly in our attitude
toward stewardship often comes from what is left over and our charity is not primarily
focused on the needs of others.

When we are faced with events like Hurricane Sandy or
are engaged with guests at Family Promise or involved with feeding people at St. Mark’s kitchen, we
are prompted to think about our responsibility to others and our egos must take a back seat as we minister to
those whose voices are temporarily muted: it's not just all about me.

Paul
lays it all out for us as he gives us an organizational plan for the individual
and the community: “Indeed, the body
does not consist of one member but of many. The body is centered in the love of
God - the Spirit that animates all of life.”

Jesus proclaims in his quote from Isaiah –"The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the
poor.” It is a world of inclusion where our sense of self is other directed
rather than “me oriented.” Compassion for the least is the foundation for
community life and communal work provide a “place” where we care for the least.

Luke
builds on the power of the Holy Spirit that he sees realized in Jesus and Paul tells us that the church is to be a
community of mutual care. We gather to remember that we belong to God and
remember that as God has blessed us, we are to be a blessing to others.

David Steindl-Rast in his book, Deeper Than Words
cites Thomas Merton’s “take” on our connectedness: Because God is love and the love is the Yes to belonging, God’s Holy
Spirit is the power that animates the deepest belonging of all to all. Jesus
stood up for love, belonging, and connectedness in the Holy Spirit, and so his
life—from his very conception-can be understood as CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY
SPIRIT, as the realization in history of something that God, beyond time
CONCEIVED.